CBHVs, Agents of Change: 770 Women Improving Maternal and Child Health in Sokoto

The Supporting Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW) project, funded by Global Affairs Canada and delivered by Plan International with Life Helpers Initiative, aims to reduce maternal and child deaths across all 23 LGAs of Sokoto State. One of its first goals is for more women of childbearing age, adolescent girls, newborns and children under five living in poverty to use essential health services.

LHI delivers the project in seven LGAs: Tureta, Shagari, Bodinga, Yabo, Dange Shuni, Kware and Rabah, through capacity building, community mobilisation, referrals and follow-up, strengthened by Community-Based Health Volunteers (CBHVs).

Who the CBHVs are

CBHVs are local women, of reproductive age or past childbearing, from the communities the project serves. Using counselling cards and a gender lens, they promote household practices for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH), including child spacing, nutrition and hygiene, and encourage women to attend health facilities.

What they have achieved

The 770 CBHVs, all women, have been active for almost three years. They have:

• helped women understand why and how to use health services, and removed barriers by talking openly with women, husbands, families and the wider community about maternal, newborn and child health and family planning;
• saved lives of pregnant women and children, including malnourished children, by identifying, referring and following them up;
• kept counselling cards in use and advocated for community systems that support healthy behaviour, leaving local capacity for government and other partners;
• collected community data on MNCH and family planning services, sent to the State Ministry of Health through LGA health directorates.

These women have truly become agents of change in their communities.

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